The exhibition of artworks of a renowned French artist Jean-Baptist Oudry at the J. Paul Getty Museum opened on May 1st, 2007. It represents 11 paintings of the artist who was widely famous for his depictions of animals and hunting in the period of the reign of Louis XV (Sterling, 1955). Although his paintings represent various animals and birds, the particularly interesting ones are the painting of a rhinoceros Clara and the painting of a lion.
The J. Paul Getty Museum is located up on a hill to where everyone can get by taking a tram. While ascending the hill, going up and away from the routine of daily life, one involuntary finds himself thinking that he or she is about to embark on a marvelous journey of discovery and inspiration, and the sight that opens to the view of the visitors once they enter Oudry’s exhibition proves that these expectations were not in vain.
Although located in a relatively small area, the exhibition represents a wide variety of the animals that belonged to the menagerie built in Versailles near Paris, France by Louis XV centuries ago. It automatically evokes feelings of awe, admiration, fear, and wonder as one looks up at the life-size images of the lion and the rhinoceros among others gazing down at the crowd of spellbound visitors.
The painting of Clara, the rhinoceros, is about 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide and depicts the grand animal in the finest detail. Moreover, Clara and the lush exquisite landscape against which she is painted seem to be ideally matching pieces of a huge puzzle: the rhinoceros’ jawline smoothly connects to the line of the horizon, and the fold of her skin on the back continues to the hill painted on the background.
It is hard to imagine what feelings the painting evoked when the people of Louis XV looked at it when even contemporary tried art lovers gasp quietly approaching the canvass. The effect it made on people in the 18th century was likely quite dramatic, especially considering that Clara was the first rhinoceros seen in Europe in 200 years. It was brought to Europe from India and was considered to be an integral part of the royal court traveling throughout European towns and capitals. It is probable that involuntary Clara also contributed to the fame and authority of Louis XV as a symbol of his overriding power that stretches far beyond the borders of the country.
Clara attracts the largest portion of attention in the exhibition. Cleverly described as a “gentle giant”, she seems to reach out to the audience, as if she is about to step out from the painting. The reason for this is, in the opinion of the museum curator Morton, are the eyes: ‘It’s the eyes in Rembrandt’s portraits that make you feel the presence of a soul in his paintings, Oudry does the same with animals’ (Smith, 2007)
Clara’s silent and powerful neighbor – the lion – traveled with her to Los Angeles from Europe to undergo thorough and scrupulous conservation. Both of them were inaccessible to the general public for more than a hundred years and were rediscovered, resurrected, and presented by the team of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The lion is like Clara a very powerful animal that evokes mixed feelings in anyone who looks at the painting. Unlike Clara, however, he cannot be described as “gentle”. The lion represents the power, strength, and vigor of nature as its king, and thus, is associated with the might of the king of France – Louis XV – confirming that he is the realization of the divine on the Earth. Lions were a must in the menageries of the past representing the supremacy of their owners as if silently stating that the might of a person who was able to conquer them knows no boundaries.
The same art tools and devices used by J. B. Oudry can be observed in this painting: the mane of the lion is reflected by the clouds above his head, as well as by the abundant leafy flora set on the background of the picture, thus creating a consistent and remarkable image of godly strength (Smith, 2007).
The experience of viewing the exhibition as a part of the audience is very different from seeing the same painting in textbooks or art albums. It allows to see in great detail the technique of the artist, the strokes of his brush, the way the light plays with the colors on picture, and realize that how much soul and effort of that person went into creating the image, his burning desire to capture the moment and preserve it for other people and next generations as a time capsule of history and culture or simply a moment in someone’s life.
References
Sterling, Charles. A Catalogue of French Paintings. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955.
Smith, Nancy. Getty Takes Walk On The Wild Side. Palisadian-Post, 2007. Web.